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Saturday, November 11, 2017

Kypson, Townsend, Kudla Reach Pro Circuit Finals; Boyer Takes ITF Grade 2, Navarro Also Wins Another Title; Chung Claims ATP Next Gen Championship

Reigning Kalamazoo 18s champion Patrick Kypson has reached his first Futures final, beating Luis Patino of Mexico 6-1, 6-2 in today's semifinal match at the $15,000 event in Niceville Florida.  Kypson, who recently turned 18, had played two consecutive three-hour matches to advance to the semifinals, but he needed just over an hour to prevail today.  Kypson will face top seed Sekou Bangoura, who defeated No. 3 seed Fabrizio Ornago of Italy 7-5, 7-6(7), despite being broke four times in the second set.

In the doubles final, Julian Lenz of Germany and Juan Benitez of Colombia, former Baylor stars, beat top seeds Nick Chappell(TCU) and Boris Arias(LSU) 7-5, 4-6, 10-7.

Speaking of Waco, Taylor Townsend[1] defeated Sonya Kenin[3] 6-1, 6-4 to advance to the final of the $80,000 USTA Women's Pro Circuit event there. Townsend should return to the WTA Top 100 with her win today, so she may not need the Australian Open wild card that she would earn with a victory on Sunday. That won't be determined until the December 4th rankings cutoff provides the main draw entries for the Australian Open, but Kristie Ahn, who is currently leading the race after winning last week's tournament in Tyler, would be next in line for the wild card. Townsend will play unseeded Ajla Tomljanovic of Croatia, who beat Rebecca Peterson of Sweden 6-3, 6-3 in Saturday's other semifinal.

Kenin did get some revenge on Townsend in the doubles final. Kenin, whose first pro doubles title came earlier this year, partnered with Anastasiya Komardina of Russia to beat Townsend and Jessica Pegula, last week's champions, 7-5, 5-7, 11-9.

At the $75,000 ATP Challenger in Knoxville Tennessee, Denis Kudla won the all-American battle with Bradley Klahn 2-6, 6-2, 7-5 to advance to Sunday's final, where he'll meet Canadian Filip Peliwo.  The 23-year-old Peliwo, a qualifier, defeated No. 2 seed Henri Laaksonen of Switzerland 6-3, 6-0 to reach his first Challenger final. The 2012 ITF World Junior Champion, Peliwo reached all four junior slam finals in 2012, winning Wimbledon and the US Open.

Tristan Boyer, who two weeks ago won his first ITF title at a Grade 2 in Japan, won both the singles and doubles championships at the Grade 2 in Israel today.  The 16-year-old Boyer, who was the top seed, defeated No. 2 seed Yanki Erel of Turkey 6-3, 6-4 in the final.  Boyer and Jesper De Jong of the Netherlands, the top seeds, won the doubles title with a 6-2, 6-3 win in the final over No. 7 seeds Baran Cengiz and Bora Sengul of Turkey. Boyer, who moved into the ITF Junior Top 100 after his title in Japan, should move into the Top 50 with this week's titles.


Emma Navarro, who won the Grade 4 in her home state of South Carolina last week, kept her winning streak going in Florida, claiming the singles title at the ITF Grade 4 in Boca Raton.  Navarro, the No. 12 seed, started the tournament with a 6-0, 6-0 win and finished it with the same score, defeating No. 9 seed Michelle Sorokko in the final. Navarro has committed to Duke, although she is just a sophomore. Sorokko did win the doubles title; with partner Dasha Kourkina, the No. 3 seeds beat No. 2 seeds Jennifer Gadalov and Luba Vasilyuk 6-4, 6-0.

Fifteen-year-old Marcus McDaniel won his first ITF singles title in Boca, with the unseeded Californian beating No. 11 seed Toby Kodat 3-6, 6-2, 6-4 in the final. McDaniel defeated four seeds, including last week's champion JanMagnus Johnson, for the title.  McDaniel fell just short of a sweep, losing in the doubles final with partner Alex Lee.  Unseeded Jordi Redelijk and Michael Sun defeated the No. 4 seeds 7-6(3), 1-6, 10-4.

At the Grade 2 in Bolivia, No. 7 seed Elliott Spizzirri lost to No. 13 seed Alejo Lingua Lavallen of Argentina 6-4, 6-4 in the boys singles final.

At the Grade 5 in Costa Rica, Midori Castillo Meza, who turns 14 next week, won both the singles and doubles titles.  The No. 2 seed won the all-American singles final with a 6-1, 6-2 decision over Sara Seivane Torres, to give Castillo her second career ITF singles title. In the doubles final, Castillo and Mexico's Lizette Reding, the No. 4 seeds, beat No. 3 seeds Sara Cruz of El Salvador and Anna Markvartova of the Czech Republic 6-2, 6-1.  Michael Agee reached the final of the boys singles.

At the Grade 5 in Jamaica, top seed Blaise Bicknell won his second ITF Junior Circuit singles title, beating No. 3 seed Shintaro Mochizuki of Japan 3-6, 6-4, 6-3.

Top seeds Kennedy Bridgforth and Najah Dawson won the doubles title, beating No. 2 seeds Mireille Moreau and Elodie Petrecca of Canada 6-3, 6-4. Dawson, the top seed in singles, lost in the final to No. 2 seed Alexandra Anttila of Finland.

At the Grade 5 in Canada, Americans took both doubles titles.  Mackenzie Clark and Marcella Cruz, the No. 2 seeds, beat Maryam Ahmad and Jenna Defalco 6-2, 7-5.  Ahmad reached the final of singles unseeded, but fell to No. 6 seed Alexandra Mikhailuk of Canada. No. 3 seeds Matthew Che and Andrew Dale won the boys doubles final 6-3, 6-1 over Sebastian Gima of Romania and Trey Stinchcomb, the No. 6 seeds.

The ATP's Next Gen finals were played today in Milan, with Korea's Hyeon Chung beating Russia's Andrey Rublev 3-4(5), 4-3(2), 4-2, 4-2. Chung, 21, went undefeated in the competition, winning all three of his round robin matches, then the semifinal and the final. For more on the championship match, see this article from the ATP website.

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